


Two Truths and a Lie

by Etoileskies



Category: Sword Art Online
Genre: Alternate Ending, Character Study, F/M, Major Spoilers, SAO: Fatal Bullet, Spoilers, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet, True Ending Spoilers, bed time events, some implied content but nothing explicit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-29 02:10:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13917159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etoileskies/pseuds/Etoileskies
Summary: He wants to see her fall apart. He wants to see her lost and uncertain. He wants her to look at him.Only him.If he has to become a devil to do it, he'd gladly fall from grace.My sort-of headcanon and alternate take on the ending of SAO: Fatal Bullet, focusing on my problematic fav of the game.





	Two Truths and a Lie

**Author's Note:**

> Unless I'm missing a fic somewhere...am I the first the upload something about Fatal Bullet on Ao3? Ayyyy. SAO doesn't seem to be that popular on AO3 but I needed to get this out of my system, views be damned
> 
> Also, if you're interested, [THIS](http://s282.photobucket.com/user/yamisdate/media/SAO%20Ashe.png.html) is what Ashe looks like.

 

Odd.

 

That’s Itsuki’s first impression of her. She almost looks offended that a top player was showing mercy to a newbie, no matter how misplaced the reason. She should be thankful for this chance.

Instead, she fixes him with a curious tilt of the head and pursed lips. Her suspicion is well founded, but he wasn’t kidding about the wasted bullets. He might be a liar, but he won't break a promise. Her gold eyes narrow, not in anger but in thought. There's a question burning on her lips, but quite frankly he'd rather they move on before he changed his mind. Dealing with a newbie was one thing. Dealing with a squadron was another. Kureha beckons her to choose a path before they get shot in the back, and she reluctantly joins her companion on the right.

Itsuki takes a moment to read her avatar name: Ashe

Taipan coughs. The timer is still ticking, and it wouldn't be long before other players hone in on their position. Itsuki shrugs before heading left. He feels his luck turning around when he sees a brightly lit teleporter waiting to be activated.

Five minutes later he takes it back. He’s the only one that makes it back to Glocken in his party.

 

* * *

 

Interesting.

 

It’s the least offensive description he has for her. Suicidal is more accurate after her stunt in the tournament. There she was, a newbie, shielding an _NPC_ from The Black Swordsman. Granted, it was an infamously rare ArFa-Sys Type-X, but she wouldn’t have even gotten it if she died. It was data. A program, albeit one with a strange personality. 

Her reason for doing so confuses him even more. She’s a creature of action. Instinct. Those types of players become one of two things: a leader or fodder. Based off first impressions alone, he places his bet on the latter.

“Out of everyone in the tournament, you’re the one I understand the least.” He hums, eyeing her up and down. “Why I wonder…? I don’t like sentimental stories, but I feel drawn to yours.”

He didn’t expect her to share that attraction.

 

* * *

 

She’s so expressive.

 

Her skills are impressive for a newbie, but she has absolutely no poker face at all. They say you can’t hide your true feelings in Virtual Reality, but she takes it to a whole new level.

“Your ArFa-Sys has a very unique algorithm,” he flashes his most disarming smile. “Or perhaps it’s because its master is unique and that uniqueness rubbed off on it?”

He half expects her to swoon or blush like every other girl he came across in GGO. He’s not the type to openly flirt, but he’s intrigued. He wants to push her buttons. He wants to see how many faces she has. A blush is not one of them. She’s scowling now, but the heat of her gaze is cooled by the bubbly NPC beside her. Itsuki laughs. He can practically feel the jealousy rolling off Kureha in waves. If Ashe also notices, she doesn't let on. Rather, she’s deflecting. Ashe makes quick work of her friend’s quip by offering to take on a bounty together. An olive branch.

One that Itsuki is eager to break over his knee.

”I’d rather it just be the two of us...”

His voice is a smooth pur. Even her ArFa-Sys unit isn’t that naive to mistake the silk in his voice. Kureha reddens even more. Itsuki could care less whether it was a shade of anger or embarrassment. He did his job.

”Just kidding.”

Ashe’s calm falters for a second, but she looks more troubled than timid. 

He wonders why.

* * *

 

They stunned her.

 

He happened upon her in the field by chance, albeit he's ten klicks north of her position. Itsuki didn't expect to see her go solo, considering how she always had someone attached at the hip. That thought irks him more than it should. Curiouser and curiouser. But he hardly has time to dwell on his latest query as he watches the PK party honing in on her location. 

There’s rebellious fury in her eyes, but there’s no mistaking the fear that blooms in the way her teeth clench and her breath becomes shallow. PKing was a fact of life in GGO, much like it was an ever-existing presence in his reality. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that he’s taken his fair share of lives here and there. But her loot was the last thing on their minds as they snickered and howled at the helpless girl against the rock wall.

GGO doesn’t consider this a breach of the «Ethics Code». The system only sees data. Strings of ones and zeros. It doesn’t understand why people take screenshots of a stunned player sprawled against the rocks. It can’t comprehend moral principle. This loophole was one of many reasons why female players were few and far between. Players are more likely to get banned for harmless data mining than for the kind of harassment taking place before his eyes.

One of the players edged closer, intent clear in the way his lecherous hands reach for her. Itsuki’s finger pulls the trigger first.

Ashe was  _his_ toy, and he didn’t like sharing.

It’s instant. The bullet shoots straight into her heart. He feels nothing, even as he watches her avatar burst into crimson particles and scatter to the wayward winds. For a brief moment, he thought he saw her eyes meet his. But that was impossible. There was no way she could have seen the bullet line. He’d heard of the Black Swordsman predicting the prediction line, but that was when he was fully focused on the battle. A stunned player was as helpless as a newborn faun.

The smirk on her lips before she vanishes makes him doubt even that logic.

The PK party is in a panic, shouting wild threats at whoever stole their ‘fun’, nearly weeping at the loss of their best catch of the month. Itsuki wants to laugh. He doesn’t. Instead, he reloads the chamber aims his reticle at the player that reached for her. He takes no pleasure in taking his loot.

 

He took great pleasure taking his life.

 

* * *

 

 

He can’t bring himself to sell the ribbon she dropped when she died.

 

 

* * *

 

She's so easy to please.

 

He opens the trade window and passes the gun onto her. A happy chirp signals the successful transaction, and she hurries to equip it. It looks small, even in her dainty hands. Weak. He hardly used it after buying it. Still, it served as proof that he came to this world. Itsuki was hardly the sentimental type, but he didn't dare discard it even after he got better gear. It wasn't even worth selling.

Maybe she could find the value in it that he could not.

Handing it over marked his graduation from his weaker self. He swallowed down his hesitation and passed it on with a smile. He half expected her to laugh at the strange gift, or at least question his reasons. She did neither.

He couldn't help feeling a feverish heat creep onto his cheeks upon seeing her light up. She looks like she was given a bar of gold instead of a cheap handgun. It's incredibly endearing, if not childish. He suddenly feels sluggish and heavy, like his real-world body was hit with the overburdened status.

He takes his temperature upon logging out.

No fever. 

* * *

 

 

He dreamt of her.

 

It’s the kind of dream he wants to forget. He still remembers the warmth of her back against his as they fought together. He still remembers her rushing in, dual pistols blazing. He still remembers her calling his name, hopeful and warm. He remembers the exact moment he turned and shot her in the back.

He was smiling.

It wasn't the first time a dream shook him so. It wasn't the first time he woke in a cold sweat, lungs burning with pained gasps. But it was the first time he felt so strongly about the ending.

After his confession, he procures the red ribbon from his inventory—citing that he bought one when she said she ‘lost’ hers. Of course she would keep the incident a secret. She blinks, surprise written on her face when she sees the familiar skills on it. There’s no way she doesn’t recognize it. Ashe frowns. For a moment it she looks more confused than upset at the blatant proof that he killed her, but the moment passes and she equips it. It sits comfortably in her hair.

“Aren’t dreams where you die good luck?” She asks. Innocent. Trusting. How was this creature thriving in GGO? A surge of disgust and envy churns in his stomach before he covers it with a helpless sigh. Not quickly enough, because her brows furrow. “What’s wrong?”

“I just confessed to shooting you and that’s your response?” He runs a hand through his hair and gazed at her with one eye open. A sad smile plays on his lips. “How trusting are you?”

_How forgiving are you?_

Itsuki knows he’s playing a dangerous game, but this is the first time he’s considering what he has to lose. He prays his bullet never reaches her. Never again.

“I let you into my bed, didn’t I?”

He shifts. Instinct trumps intuit as he rolls, arms trapping her at either side of her head while his knees cage her in. The harassment window turns a blind eye. By the system’s standards, he hadn’t touched her. Not yet. Her brown hair sprays out like a halo on the sheets. The sleeves of her red dress, void of its light armor plating, fall down her arms. Her skin is flush, and he briefly wonders if they’re truly in virtual space.

How far will she let him go?

He wants to see her fall apart. He wants to see her lost and uncertain. He wants her to look at him. _Only him_.

“Do you know what happened to Little Red Riding Hood when a wolf invited her to bed?” Itsuki asks. The question is innocent enough, but there’s no denying the hunger in his gaze.

The answer weighs heavily between them. He watches her with a sniper’s eye, watches the uneven rise and fall of her chest. Watches her cheeks colour and her mouth part. In shock? Anticipation? Her tongue sweeps her bottom lip, and he settles on an answer.

“What happened?” Her voice pitches breathlessly, and it’s the prettiest thing he ever heard. Itsuki leans down, «Ethics Code» be damned.

“He ate her.”

 

* * *

 

 

He didn’t get banned.

 

 

And it turns out she made even prettier sounds in the presence of a wolf.

 

 

* * *

 

He has to stop coming here.

 

He lost count of how many times he visited her room, whether it be by her invitation or his. His room was out of the question, as his squadron annoyed him with questions to no end. By some miracle, his female fans hadn’t found out exactly why he was avoiding them lately. Likewise, Ashe is quick to divert them while they hang out. It isn’t until one escapade leads them to the abandoned city. It’s a favored spot for PKing, but neither of them are in the mood for a fire fight today.

When Ashe complains about the trek, Itsuki jokes that he could sweep her off her feet. Seconds later, he’s the one grumbling when she pulls him close and flies with her UFG to the top of a building. She mentions a safe spot she found while hanging out with Leafa, which brought them to the very top of a business spire. From this height, even a sniper would find it difficult to prey on those below. For the most part, this was the safest place outside Glocken. At least until the UFG update went live.

They play a game: two truths and a lie. It is a game he knows well, though he twists the rules in his favor. Her reactions are adorable, scrunching her nose when he claims he’s the prime minister’s illegitimate son and puffing her cheeks when he claims he’s actually a girl in real life. 

Lies slip from his lips like sickly sweet syrup, thick and dripping with ill intent. He wants to test a theory. Itsuki lets one truth out. One calculated risk hidden amongst his saccharine words. He sees the exact moment she understands. The exact time her pupils dilate. The moment her throat constricts. She sucks in a breath to speak, but he cuts her off with a playful wink.

“Just kidding.”

She is not amused. She is never amused by those honeyed words. And yet, he continues hurt her with them. He has to. He is helpless to her, and she knows it. Itsuki finds that more dangerous than any Death Game he can conjure.

She threatens to toss him off the building, and for a moment he believes her—or at least her STR stat. He’s seen her use an AMR Tiamat, after all.

“Give me a break…” he shakes his head, but he revels in the way she softens and leans her head against his shoulder. She fits. Perfectly. He wonders if she’s the missing piece he’s been looking for in both of his worlds: fact and fiction. 

“One more round.” She says, her voice barely above a whisper. “One: levels and skills aren’t what make you strong. Two: my favorite color is red. Three: you never break a promise.” she pulls away just enough to look up at him through her fringe. “What’s the lie?”

He feels goosebumps on his skin, and he knows it’s not from the wind that buffets them. Itsuki begins to speak, but she presses a finger to his lips.

“Let’s call this a draw, hm?”

He agrees, if only to stop himself from giving her the correct answer.

 

* * *

 

She’s an enigma.

 

Her hand rests on his cheek as she stares. It’s like she’s memorizing the planes of his face, every hard line and soft spot. She’s analyzing the data in front of her beneath his crimson gaze. Likewise, he drinks her in like a man dying of thirst. He wants what she provides, but he knows only despair waits for him.

A desert oasis is almost always a mirage. 

“What pretty eyes you have.”

“All the better to see you with, my dear.”

Her fingers travel up, brushing the nape of his neck and burying in his black hair. He shudders. His hands slide down the subtle dip of her back. She shivers. “What soft hair you have.”

“All the better for you to pet, my dear.”

They laugh. It doesn’t feel forced. It rarely feels fake with her. He is far from tamed, but now he is hesitant to bite the hands that feed him the attention he craves. 

It scares him. 

“What sharp teeth you have.”

His grin is wolffish and savage. He nips at her vulnerable neck and relishes in the gasps he draws from her lips.

“All the better to eat you with.”

 

* * *

 

Kureha is suspicious.

 

It’s the third time Ashe turned down a hunt, and Itsuki finally relents. He puts on a show of dramatics, but she knows he’s acting the wolf who played boy. He also understands. His inbox is full of messages from Taipan. Concerns and questions are in every line. The game is already set in motion, and it's impossible to go back. That option vanished the moment he broke into Zaskar's files. 

Itsuki has become somewhat of an urban legend in GGO. President. College Student. Programmer. Model. The closer someone gets, the less people see. He's only shared one truth in this world of guns, and she is the only soul to hear it. The weight of this risk thrills him almost as much as it frightens him. She went from a toy to a loose end that had to be dealt with.

Ashe might have the best poker face, contrary to his first impression of her. Her mask of naivete is her greatest accomplishment, and he wonders how much of her is real and how much of her is his. If he is made of secrets and smoke, she is made of mirrors and mystery. She reflects only what she wants people to see. 

To Kureha, a childhood friend.

To Zeliska, a trusted partner.

To Itsuki...

They keep each other a secret from the others. He has his circumstances to consider, but he can’t figure out why she’s keeping her silence. When he finally asks, she only shushes him the best way she knows.

Her lips are extremely effective.

Later that night, Ashe ties her ribbon around his wrist, wrapping their secret like a gift.

Like a promise.

 

* * *

 

She’s impossibly gullible.

 

No, that’s not quite right. He sees the flash of hurt in her eyes when he tells her to step through the teleporter. An obvious trap. Her grip on her assault rifle tightens and she levels him with an unimpressed glare. It would have been intimidating if she didn’t wear that ~~adorable~~ ridiculous maid headband.

Regardless, she straightens her back and steps through. Itsuki heaves a sigh and leans against one of the pillars. The red ribbon on his wrist feels suffocatingly tight, and he checks its weight for the hundredth time. For such a light accessory it felt unimaginably heavy.

_Come back._

He swallows the words and prepares himself for her inevitable return. Prepared to say the two words he loved to hide behind. They’re a lucky charm. A shield. A curse. 

Who was he trying to fool in the first place?

* * *

 

He’s unapologetically cruel.

 

There’s a calculated coldness in the way he talks about Kureha and Zeliska. His jokes gradually sharpen into knives as she broadens her circle of friends. She is quick to scold him and even quicker to ease his doubts.

It’s never enough.

The SBC-Flugel is behind them now, and he almost feels betrayed at the turn of events. Who would have thought there was a True Ending hiding behind a flag that went against game logic?

Then again, he should have expected this out of her. She defied logic in everything she did. She treated NPCs like players. She found the good in everyone, no matter how minuscule or non-existent. And her worst transgression? 

She forgives him at every turn.

Ashe is the type that can’t abandon anyone. Fool her once shame on her. Fool her twice shame on him. Fool her thrice and he’s not sure who’s fault it is anymore. Every villain seeks out a hero to challenge. Every devil seeks an Eve to corrupt. Every shining fairy tale had a dark moral lurking in the wings. What is the moral of theirs?

“Can I...become someone special to you?”

He hates how how his voice catches in his throat. Before he can utter his playful catchphrase, Ashe lunges forward. Her hands slap onto his lips, sealing his words. A harassment window pops up in his peripheral vision, but he dismisses it as quickly as it appears.

“Itsuki.”

The way she says his name makes him shudder. A horrible mixture of warmth and fear coils around his heart, and he still finds himself speechless long after she removed her hands. He dreads the words on her lips as much as he delights in hearing them. 

“I really like you, Itsuki…”

Her eyes burn bright, and he’s suddenly reminded of molten gold—like that of Ghostspecht’s lava threatening to burn him alive. But this time, he’d gladly accept the death penalty under her gaze. He exhales slowly.

“Ahhh, what am I supposed to say when a cute girl confesses like that?” A laugh claws its way up his throat. He has a joke prepared for this moment, but it crumbles under the rebellious tears that fall. Itsuki brings a hand to his cheek to stare at the droplets that vanish into sparkling particles.

“That’s right. You can’t hide your true emotions in VR... Damn.” He wonders out loud. After a beat of silence he chuckles and wipes the evidence of his weakness away. He slides his gaze to the ground. “I'll be honest... I've always wanted to meet someone like you... Someone who wouldn't follow behind me, but walk alongside. Someone who'd never betray me." He raises a hand to brush his thumb against the apple of her cheeks. "I've tried to test and taint you over and over again, and not once did you leave. You stayed. I just can't understand why."

"I told you why." she replies. Her fingers curl into the fabric of his coat, desperate to keep hold. As though he was on the verge of vanishing like smoke to the wind. "You don't believe me?"

"...I don't."

And just like that, he hurts her.

He'll hurt her over and over again. It's too late to extricate himself from her. He's far too gone to stop the Death Game now, and it would cause her more harm to explain the truth. There's no telling what the organization will do if they find out he's gone soft, and even worse once they find out she's the reason. But he has one chance to save her, if only she'd stop forgiving him. 

_Don't follow me. Don't care for me. Don't love me._

He doesn't remember the last time a lie hurt this badly. 

This time, it’s Itsuki’s fingers that press against her lips when she makes an effort to speak. They’re impossibly soft, and he toys with the idea of tasting her outside the sanctity of her room. GGO’s food replication wasn’t impressive, but she tasted so sweet beneath him, twisted in her sheets and nails catching on his back.

“If we had time,” he shook his head, as though the words didn’t quite fit right. “If we met in a different world, I wonder if you could still say those words. If they could ever mean the way I want them to.”

“What are you talking about?” She asks. Her lips catch against his fingers, and he sucks in a painful breath.

“The hero and the villain of this story were never supposed to meet. Not like this.” He removes himself from her. The space between them hurts, like a photon saber ran her through. “That’s what makes their showdown so ‘final’.”

He opens his window and the line he draws between them has never been so clear. He links to Taipan in seconds and the operation begins. Itsuki barely feels her fingers reach for him before she is forcefully logged out.

"This is reality. Not a single smile or spot of warmth to be found..." he speaks to an empty server. His gaze burns a hole into the place she once stood. "To be anything more would be too much to bear."

 

* * *

 

 

They barely speak the next day.

 

 

* * *

 

He wants to break her.

 

Solve this impossible riddle. Crack that impenetrable code. Her very existence is a puzzle that begs to be solved. She’s a paradox—so open and honest, but he still can’t understand how she works. Even now, she wants to save the villain that put her precious friends at risk. 

Some small part of him never wants to understand. 

“I can’t believe it…” he laughs, breathless and uncertain. “You held onto that gun this whole time?”

Weak. Useless. It sat in his inventory, neglected. He was sure it would have gathered dust if the system allowed it.

He purposely threw away that aspect of himself, not realizing he gave it a home with her instead. And now he finds himself staring down his powerlessness. Weak it may be, but the boss battle whittled their HP to the red, and there was no way she would miss at this range.

”You held onto that ribbon.” She counters. Sure enough, the crimson ribbon was tied securely around his wrist. Heavy.

He wanted her.

All of her.

He gave her a chance to run away. Now it was time to face the consequences.

“Are you mad I tricked you?” he asks. At the shake of her head, he gestures helplessly. “Why don’t you fire that gun? Kill the big bad wolf once and for all?” He sees the faint tremble of her finger on the trigger and laughs. "Of course you can't. You’re not that kind of person. You’re pure. You’ve lived in a world of light and warmth.” Itsuki’s words are harsh and biting. "But reality doesn't care if you can or can't. There's no time to debate right from wrong when you're staring down the barrel of a gun."

"Itsuki..." she warns.

"If you pull that trigger, I'll die." his voice is a playful lilt. It’s no surprise to her that a NerveGear sits upon his head in reality. A liar he may be, but he wasn’t the type to half-ass this carefully concocted Death Game. His crimson eyes narrow before his voice drops low. "...Do you have what it takes to kill someone?"

He hopes she does. 

“It’s time for Little Red Riding Hood to escape. But how will she do it, I wonder…?” Itsuki hummed. “How will the hero defeat the villain?”

Ashe takes a deep breath. Her nerves settle and the trembling stops. “Did you know there’s another ending to the tale?” She asks, and her gun lowers just an inch.

“There are dozens.” He replies, unimpressed with her stalling. “Which one do you choose? The one where she feeds the wolf stones until he dies? The one where she guts him? Tell me…!”

He knows she’ll back down. She’s not that kind of person. This is the girl that bonded with an AI. The girl that reunited ArFa-Sys with its mother. The girl that turned his world on its hinges with nothing but a smile. But someone had to die tonight. Someone had to disappear for the Death Game to conclude. His eyes flick to Kureha and Zeliska on the sidelines.

Ashe seems to catch on, because she straightens and recaptures his attention. 

“Neither.” She says. “I choose to keep him.”

The answer catches him off guard. Quickly, she turns her gun, _Itsuki’s gun_ , towards her own temple.

He makes a choked sound and pulls the trigger. He disarms her before she can shoot the fatal bullet into her skull, where a NerveGear holds her life in the balance. Her gun still fires but it nicks her headband, reducing its durability to zero. It explodes into a crown of crimson ash.

She stumbles backwards, and Itsuki’s body is moving of its own accord. He tosses his gun to the side and rushes towards her, cradling her head and checking her HP bar. She only has pixels left, but that’s all the reassurance he needs.

Her eyes crack open. She’s smiling wryly up at him. “Did the pup learn his lesson?”

Itsuki froze. The weight of his actions comes crashing down and he starts laughing. “Ahhh, I lose.” His expression is so honest and vulnerable it makes her want to cry. “You’re the craziest girl I’ve ever met. I couldn’t predict you, even in the end.”

“Look who's talking." she bites back, and the sting festers in his chest. He knows he deserves her scorn, but the warmth and hope he sees in her eyes hurts him even more. Words hang between them, but the Death Arena shudders around them. Alarms blare in the background, and the System begins a user lock down. 

[Critical violation detected... Suspending GM access.]

"Time's up." Itsuki helps her stand. He sounds less bitter than she expected. He almost looks chagrined as both their avatars start glowing. No doubt the system was running a check on their programs before logging them out. “You stole the ending from me.”

“I wasn’t a fan.”

He clicks his tongue while wagging a disapproving finger. “Not liking an ending isn’t the same as understanding it.”

"And you've given me _plenty_ of chances to understand you." She huffs. He doesn't flinch. Itsuki sees the system catch hints of the backdoor Taipan installed into his game, and he knows he has only seconds to say what's on his mind.

“I'll see you again." his grin is sly and cunning, if not a bit strained. There was no hint of his earlier weakness. "Will we meet in the virtual world? Or maybe reality?"

"...That would be nice."

It makes him hesitate a brief second, just long enough for her to bridge the distance he created between them, but Itsuki turns before she can reach.

 

 

* * *

 

Days later she finds a letter addressed to her real address. For a horrifying moment she thinks of Death Gun all over again. The government collected her NerveGear, but she remembers the gripping chill of the helmet over her head.

But her fears are dashed once she sees the contents. She already knows she’ll never trace the sender but the dream gives her some semblance of hope: a simple red ribbon and a card with only two words.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: fleshed out some awkward lines that were choppy.
> 
> This is the first time I tried writing a bit more of an unhealthy relationship...hmmm. Also, this is very roughly written since I mostly just wrote this to get it out of my head. BACK TO PERSONA
> 
> Anyway, I know it's not the Persona 5 Update I've been promising since last month, but I've had this in my head since I started playing Fatal Bullet and lord knows it'll bother me until I finish it.


End file.
